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Frank DiGiacomo: Can Keith Olbermann and David Shuster Get Along?

When MSNBC Washington correspondent David Shuster got himself in hot water earlier this month by remarking—during a stint guest-hosting Tucker Carlson's show Tucker—that Chelsea Clinton seemed to have been "pimped out" on behalf of her mother's presidential campaign, Keith Olbermann's assessment of his colleague's gaffe was unequivocal and withering. On the February 8 edition of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, the Monday-through-Friday series he anchors, Olbermann reported Shuster's suspension by the network and called the reporter's remark "an utterly inappropriate and indefensible thing to say." He also apologized "without limit" to the Clinton family on behalf of MSNBC, saying, "We are literally, dreadfully sorry."

Prior to making the "pimped out" remark, Shuster was a regular on Countdown (as well as other MSNBC shows), but the severity of Olbermann's comments left me wondering if Shuster would still be welcome on the show when he returns from his suspension tomorrow (as he is reportedly scheduled to do). As it turns out, the answer is yes. In an e-mail forwarded to me via an MSNBC spokeswoman, Olbermann wrote:

I've been lobbying for David's first assignment upon his return to be on [italics his] my program. Two weeks ago, he said something he shouldn't have. After which, he handled it utterly professionally, and I think MSNBC has, too—especially as one watches in disbelief as Fox News sits back and does nothing after Bill O'Reilly talked about "a lynching party against Michelle Obama."

(He's referring to comments O'Reilly reportedly made on his radio show about Barack Obama's wife on February 19.) Olbermann concluded: "I'll welcome David back in any way, up to and including holding the front door open for him. He's good people."